Brown County Commissioners voted Monday to invite the U.S. Army Special Operation Command to conduct training operations in Brown County.
According to Commissioner Gary Worley of Precinct 1, the training operations will take place next spring, between the dates of March 5 and June 1, 2017 and will be joint operations in Brown and Eastland Counties.
Worley explained that the military personnel involved will not be driving in the usual military vehicles, but rather in civilian vehicles and some of these troops will be in plain clothes while others may be in partial military attire. Their goal will be skill improvement, said Worley.
“They will conduct some clandestine type operations and involve no military vehicles, like Humvees, tanks, helicopters or anything like that. It will be all civilian type vehicles. The Special Operations Command is very good at coming at the middle of the night and retrieving whoever they need to retrieve or handling whatever situation arises, but they wanted a little lower key type training,” said Worley. “Most people in Brown County will never even know they were here.”
Worley stated that approximately 50 personnel involved in the training and some of it will take place at Camp Bowie. Special Operations Command will brief all law enforcement agencies to get their involvement and to alert them of the operations.
After Worley received approval for the invitation, he presented a letter he had written to be signed, which will formally invite the U.S. Army to come to Brown County for this training.
In other matters on Monday’s agenda:
* District Clerk Cheryl Jones received approval for employee changes. According to Deputy Clerk Shanna Bullard, Mark Stroope has been hired to fill a deputy clerk position within the District Clerk’s office.
*Elections Administrator Karen Opiela received approval of hiring Ervin Bates as a part time temporary employee. He will make $10.58/hour and will work less than 27 hours. Mr. Bates’ hiring will fill one of the two part time temporary positions approved earlier this year by the court.
*Sherry Clark, Chairperson of the Child Welfare Board, received approval for new member Jacqueline Rider. Rider is a retired EISD teacher and will fill a vacant position on the board. There are still positions open on the Child Welfare Board and Clark stated that the board is looking for new members.
*Brown County Treasurer Ann Krpoun received approval of the health insurance proposal from Texas Association of Counties for FY 2016-2017. Krpoun stated that the new insurance will only increase 3% in cost. This increase will be offset by an $80,753 rebate received by the county. Krpoun stated that this proposal includes an “improvement in the county’s current prescription plan.” She explained that employees on “maintenance prescriptions” will now be able to get a 90-day supply of their prescriptions at local CVS pharmacies or by mail order, for the cost of a 60-day supply, essentially offering quite a discount for many employees.
*Commissioner Worley, Pct. 1, received approval to auction the current Pct. 1 road crew pickup at public auction and to purchase a 2011 Mack Truck from Bruckner Truck Sales of Abilene for $65,548. This truck will be converted to a dump truck with a Warren dump bed, explained Worley. County Judge Ray West, after a statement from the public regarding purchases over $50,000 requiring a bid, stated that no bid was needed since Bruckner Truck Sales was a member of the state’s Buy Board.
